written by | Annabel Sampson
RECAP OF MY PERSONAL FAVORITE: ADVOCACY CONFERENCE AND DAY
Particularly on Mankato Campus, students were very excited to attend the first ever advocacy conference. We were excited to hear from professionals and experts across the Minnstate system. I enjoyed a lot of the sessions; my colleague Doria Dorst on SWOT Analysis, Dr. Keith Edwards and the youngest representative, Hunter Cantrell.
Aside the presenters, I also enjoyed the snacks and oh, the baked cookies with Students United by the former Director of Government Relation Sarah Berns.
After hearing from Dr. Edwards, we changed our “highs and lows” in meetings to three things you are grateful for. It was a meaningful and interesting session.
The SWOT Analysis reviewed how to plan events evaluating strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
Representative Hunter Cantrell also gave a touching speech on his experiences and personal struggles and how he got into the House.
The biggest day was Advocacy Day where we got to put to use all we learned during the weekend. We went to the Capitol on February 25th 2019 to represent the 65,000 students in all the seven Minnesota state universities and advocate for higher education needs. One of the things we advocated on was for the state to fulfill its promise as stated in the MN state stature that the state will fund 65% while the students fund 35%.
We got the chance to speak to Senator Nick Frentz, Representative Connie Bernady, Representative Jack Considine and others.
It was a great day and we felt we had done something good. Students United should consider making the Advocacy Conference and Day combination a yearly thing!
WE LOVED ADVOCACY DAY!!